Fishing: Anything's possible these days

Wednesday

Sep 30, 2009 at 11:44 PM

You'll hear the term "transitions" a lot if you hang around fishermen. We're in for a major one, and it's more than likely going to happen this weekend. We have three conditions colliding. The temperature is dropping. The winds will come in from the north starting Saturday night. And the full moon will rise Saturday as well.

While conventional wisdom says that the first week in October should be too early for the various species of panfish to concentrate and too early for speckled perch -- there's been little conventional about fishing in and around the St. Johns River this year. We've yet to have a shrimp run. And bluegills and shellcrackers have been spawning -- sort of -- all summer long. Some fishermen reported catching some panfish with roe in them this week. So it would not be surprising to see them gang up around lily pads and go at it again around the full moon.

Anglers are already catching limits of speckled perch in Lake Lochoosa. The trick is to get the baits down to them. The lake isn't deep anywhere. But if your bait isn't a foot off the bottom and moving, you're out of luck. The fish are being taken on minnows, jigs and combinations of the two. But those catching the fish are putting at least a quarter-ounce -- and up to a half-ounce -- of lead ahead of them. Drift or troll at between 1 and 2 knots and stay away from the shoreline. That's about all it takes.

The mullet know about transitions, too. They're starting to come together in massive schools in the St. Johns right now. These concentrations will keep getting larger until some primordial switch flips and they all begin to head north toward the mouth of the river. They're headed for the open ocean and there will be plenty of predators out there waiting for them when it happens.

The transition isn't lost on brackish water fish, either. With these first wimpy cold fronts, the finger mullet are gathering up inside the inlet. Take a cast net to Porpoise Point right now and technique is irrelevant. Even the worst throw will catch a day's worth of live bait. We're already seeing bluefish busting up the schools along with ladyfish, big jack crevalle and even tarpon. And this is only the beginning of the fall run. Sheepshead are showing up in the inlet. In a week or two, the larger flounder will come into the inlet and scatter throughout the ICW and feeder creeks for the winter.

If you're into full-contact fishing, head for the Guana Dam Saturday night or Sunday. The combination of the full moon high tides and winds from the north will flood the lake and jam reds and flounder up on the north side of the dam. But know that it can get ugly up there with wall-to-wall anglers. And bring plenty of hooks, leads and leaders because you'll need them, tossing baits into strong currents with half of humanity on either side of you.

The ocean should be gorgeous this weekend. While angler may need to dodge thunderheads on Saturday, it should be worth it. The bottom fishing should be excellent from 10 to 45 miles out. Somebody has forgotten to tell our historic stocks of red snapper that they're grossly over-fished and horribly endangered. Grouper have moved in closer. But many of these are undersized. Treat them gently and get them back into the water quickly. We should have good incidental catches of black seabass, triggerfish and beeliners. And there's been a bonus out there this week. Captains are reporting nice catches of mangrove snapper on the local reefs and wrecks, averaging between 14 to 20 inches.

Kingfish have not returned to local waters just yet.

Transitions overlap. But look for them on the local bottom in a week or two.

We appreciate the fishing photos and reports some of you have begun sending in.

Don't stop. You can e-mail them to creekrat@bellsouth.net.

We also have a Fishing Line at 819-3461. You can call that number 24 hours a day and leave fishing reports, questions or upcoming events we can help you with.

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